Back To the Future

Thursday

Dec 22, 2016 at 5:04 AM

The year 1989, for some of us, seems like a distant memory, filled with “brick” phones and shoulder pads.

“Back To the Future II” had been release Nov. 22, bringing with it visions of hoverboards and flying cars by 2015. About a month later — 27 years ago this month — Worcester Magazine went over the World Future Society’s predictions in an editorial piece titled “Outlook ‘90 and Beyond,” adding commentary on the revolutionary ideas compiled by economists, scholars, researchers, scientists and others who wrote for the WFS’ magazine, The Futurist.

The first prediction was that cash would become illegal for all but small transactions, the familiar coins and paper soon rendered obsolete. As time passed after the invention of the credit card , more and more institutions have begun to accept it as a form of purchase. Most people in the country own at least one piece of plastic. A reason they gave was providing an “effective method of crime prevention and detection.” The only problem with that is recent cyber attacks, like the one at Target a few years ago, where hackers accessed data from over 40 million shoppers.

That brings us to another prediction: surveillance. We are in the age of surveillance. Our information is everywhere, susceptible to government analysis and hackers. The concept that “Big Brother is watching” has been featured in recently on shows like “Mr. Robot,” emphasizing the lack of privacy in our society. The reason for their forecast is incorrect, though. They expected it to be a replacement for prisons, having tracking implants for criminals and overall spying for regular civilians.

That was all before 9/11, before the toxic demand for Islamophobia hit our stars and stripes like the plague. Therefore, one could argue that instituting the Patriot Act to “protect us” was already on its way years before the tragedy that rocked our world.

A few ideas ventured optimistic, in terms of drastic change, including robots with human intelligence being as common as household appliances in 2039 and furniture that can communicate. Scientists have been attempting to give robots our intelligence, but haven’t really got there. Expecting to be there by 2019 is a bit presumptuous. Then, having them as popular as microwaves is a whole other step.

Instead of actual immigrants coming in, they then estimated that “people who telecommute via computers to work in another country” would be the biggest trade issue of the modern era. Unfortunately, we still have to deal with oil and its political repercussions. OPEC recently cut the price of oil, attempting to smite out the competition, reviving its entitlement in the ring of elite.

So, although we might not have talking tables at the moment, who knows what another few decades might bring our way.